The Avivim school bus bombing was a terrorist attack on an Israeli school bus on 22 May 1970, in which 12 civilians were killed, nine of them children, and 25 were wounded, one of whom died of a wound sustained in the attack 44 years later. The attack took place on the road to Moshav Avivim, near Israel's border with Lebanon. Two Rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the bus.[2] The attack was one of the first carried out by the PFLP-GC.[1]
| Avivim school bus bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon | |
 Avivim school bus. | |
  The attack site | |
| Location | Near Avivim, northern Israel |
| Coordinates | 33°03′43″N 35°25′24″E / 33.06194°N 35.42333°E |
| Date | 22 May 1970 |
| Target | Israeli school bus |
Attack type | Ambush |
| Weapons | Rocket propelled grenades, gunfire |
| Deaths | 12 civilians (including 9 children) |
| Injured | 25 |
| Perpetrator | PFLP-GC[1] |
Attack
editEarly in the morning, the bus departed from Avivim heading with its passengers to two local schools. This route had been scouted by the Palestinian militants, believed to have infiltrated from Lebanon, and an ambush was set up. As the bus passed by, ten minutes after leaving Avivim, it was attacked by heavy gunfire from both sides of the road. The driver was among those hit in the initial barrage,[3] as were the two other adults on board. The three were killed as the bus crashed into an embankment as the attackers continued firing into the vehicle.
The attackers were never apprehended.[citation needed]
Fatalities
editThe children, who were in first to third grade, were buried in a special plot in Safed. A monument commemorating the victims of the attack stands in the middle of the moshav.[4]
Leah Revivo, who survived the attack at age nine, died in 2014 at age 52 from an infection brought on by a piece of shrapnel lodged in her brain as a result of the attack.[17]
Aftermath
editIsrael retaliated for the massacre by shelling four Lebanese villages, killing 20 people, injuring 40, and spurring thousands of southern Lebanon's residents to flee north.[18][19] This in turn provided one of the claimed motivations for the Dawson's Field hijackings of 6 September 1970.[19] The IDF also began patrolling regularly inside southern Lebanon after the massacre.[18]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Yodfat, Aryeh; Arnon-Oḥanah, Yuval (1981). PLO Strategy and Politics. Croom Helm. ISBN 9780709929017. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "Moshav Avivim still stands determined during tensions". The Jerusalem Post – JPost.com. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ As history repeats[dead link]
- ^ A People Remember Moshav Center
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – אסתר אביקזר ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – יהודה אוחיון ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – יפה בטיטו ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – מימון ביטון ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – חביבה ביטון ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – חנה ביטון ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – שמעון ביטון ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – שולמית ביטון ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – מכלוף ביטון ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – עליזה פרץ ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה – חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים – רמי ירקוני גרינר ז"ל". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "נזכור את כולם". Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "Israeli Mom Dies of Shrapnel Infection from 1970 School Bus Massacre".
- ^ a b Morris, Benny (25 May 2011). Righteous Victims. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. ISBN 9780307788054. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ a b Dolnik, Adam (2007). Understanding Terrorist Innovation. Routledge. ISBN 9780415423519. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
